A fresh controversy has erupted over the appointment of director at Nehru Memorial Museum and Library (NMML) after a prominent member of its Executive Council Pratap Bhanu Mehta quit allegedly over shortlisting of Shakti Sinha who had served as private secretary to former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

A renowned political scientist Mehta had raised objections on the selection of former bureaucrat Sinha, which, however, was the “majority opinion” of selection panel headed by Union Minister M J Akbar constituted by the NMML Executive Council,a source said.

The panel also chose the name of Prof Kapil Kumar of IGNOU for the post, which it forwarded to the Executive Council.

At a meeting yesterday, the Executive Council decided to forward these two names to the Culture Ministry but due to the prevailing disagreements, Mehta, decided to bring his dissent on record and quit the NMML.